Notable TV Thru June 8, 2008
L&O: Criminal Intent Joins USA’s Summer Lineup
Monday | June 2
The Mole: It’s been four long years since the last season ended in 2004, but this reality competition is finally back, and lots of people are thrilled. I hope the latest version lives up to their expectations. [10pm EST/ABC]
Tuesday | June 3
30 Days: The third season begins with series creator Morgan Spurlock traveling to West Virginia, his home state, in order to take on a job as a rookie apprentice coalminer. [10pm EST/FX]
Wednesday | June 4
Tyler Perry’s House of Payne: New episodes haven’t aired for a few weeks, but tonight fans will get four of ‘em in a row, I guess to make up for all of the repeats lately. [9pm EST/TBS]
Thursday | June 5
Fear Itself: This is one of the series I’m most looking forward to this summer because the genre, horror, is right up my alley. On the first installment, appropriately titled “The Sacrifice,” four unsuspecting crooks come up against three deadly sirens at a secluded fort. Sounds like a good start to me. [10pm EST/NBC]
Swingtown: This is one of the series I’m least looking forward to this summer because I don’t understand how anyone thought the throwback premise — sexually promiscuous married couples in an affluent 1970s Chicago neighborhood — would appeal to viewers. It certainly doesn’t sound even remotely interesting to me, which is why I’ll be shocked if the show succeeds. [10pm EST/CBS]
Friday | June 6
Law & Order: Criminal Intent: Regular Friday marathons lasting eight to ten hours begin for the entire month of June. [10am–8pm EST/USA]
Charlie Jade: One of basic cable’s better networks premieres yet another new series, this one about the title “rogue private detective,” who winds up in a parallel universe after an explosion in the middle of the desert. I hate when that happens… [8pm EST/Sci Fi Channel]
Man vs. Wild: The second season ends. [9pm EST/Discovery Channel]
Meerkat Manor: The Next Generation: A fourth season begins. [9pm EST/Animal Planet]
Battlestar Galactica: This particular episode features the long-awaited unboxing of Cylon Number Three, also known as D’Anna Biers (Lucy Lawless), who has seen the Final Five. Good times! [10pm EST/Sci Fi Channel]
Saturday | June 7
Sybil: CBS joins the Saturday-night original telemovie tradition, usually owned by basic-cable networks, with a two-hour remake of one of my all-time favorite movies.
The powerful 1976 version, also made for television and based on fact, starred Flying Nun Sally Field in the Emmy-winning role of a woman suffering from dissociative identity disorder due to extensive childhood sexual abuse, and Joanne Woodward played her psychiatrist.
This weekend’s update features Oscar winner Jessica Lange in the doctor role, Tammy Blanchard as Sybil, and JoBeth Williams as the patient’s abusive mother. The movie is definitely must-see TV for me. [8pm EST/CBS]
Sunday | June 8
The Circuit: Buffy Summers’s little sister and Gossip Girl meanie Michelle Trachtenberg headlines this race-car original telemovie aimed at teens. Meanwhile, The 4400’s Billy Campbell provides eye candy for older viewers, and Charmed and Army Wives‘ Drew Fuller does the same for younger ones. [8pm EST/ABC Family]
Law & Order: Criminal Intent: Thankfully renewed for an eight season on May 23 by its new network USA, the youngest L&O spinoff resumes its current seventh season with Detective Goren going undercover once again, this time to ensnare a drug dealer. [9pm EST/USA]
Army Wives: Season Two begins, and not a moment too soon for hordes of eager fans. [10pm EST/Lifetime]
This American Life: The second season wraps with an extended one-hour episode. [10pm EST/Showtime]
NOTE: All times are Eastern Standard Time (EST)
Kathryn Erbe and Vincent D’Onofrio/Law & Order: Criminal Intent photo courtesy of Eric Ogden/USA Network
